


Take it to the grave

by Balrog_Roike



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Under the Red Hood
Genre: Canon Temporary Character Death, Creepy, Dark, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Jason Todd is Joker's son, Origin Story, all around A+ Parenting, more or less, the Joker should be his own warning, very dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 19:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14063421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Balrog_Roike/pseuds/Balrog_Roike
Summary: The Joker has a secret and he is never going to tell...





	Take it to the grave

**Author's Note:**

> This probably doesn't fit anywhere in any canon-timeline, but eh, the idea was too interesting to pass up.
> 
> Partially inspired by "Red Hood: The Lost Days" but I'm pretty sure the plot spooked around in my head long before that. (At least since first watching the final encounter between Joker, Batman and the Red Hood in the "Under the Red Hood" movie.)
> 
> Betaed by Skywinder.

Ask the Joker about his past and his answer will be multiple choice. He never answers the question the same way twice and every story could be equally true. People have researched and people have failed and even the (big bad) Bat himself can tell you nothing about the origin of the beast.

And as for the Joker himself? Well, he grins and laughs and spins another tale and ~~the truth of the matter is that he’s long forgotten and~~ it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s here to stay and all of Gotham is his to play with.

(That’s a lie, by the way. Because there’s a tiny but important detail he could he never ever forget.)

His stories always, _always_ involve the Bat, though.

Sometimes he once was a daring thief, drowning in a vat of chemical waste. Other times he was just a hapless dupe, paying for another’s crimes. He was a failed comedian and a father-to-be, down on his luck and losing it all. Just another killer in the dark or even the _one_ killer, the _one_ that truly counted in the end. A scientist, an office worker, a nobody just passing by, or a nameless evil older than time…

But all his past selves, without a fault, changed completely once they encountered the Bat.

And this is the lynchpin of their ~~comedy~~ tragedy.

+++

(It’s not the only constant, though, even if only the Joker is aware of this. Because while he never ever had a dead wife, he barely, vaguely remembers having a girlfriend once…

And that their baby lived.)

+++

Whenever the Joker tries to remember the girl he once may have loved, he sees the face of his son instead. He likes to think that they looked alike, that there’s something that remains of her, but the truth is that he only remembers that she was young and that she died and that Sheila Haywood was the one who killed her.

There _may_ have been complications during the birth – ~~thanks to the Bat he wasn’t there~~ he’s not actually sure of that – but he _knows_ that Dr. Haywood did things to her you wouldn’t find mention of in any medical textbook to ~~allegedly~~ save her.

She failed in the end, as she so often did.  
(The many, many skeletons in her closet would have impressed even him if he hadn’t been one of those affected by her.)

But at least she saved his son and that is the only reason Joker didn’t kill her on the spot.

His very first glimpse of his newborn son was through the window of rundown apartment slash black-market clinic right after his ~~maybe~~ first encounter with the Bat. The little tyke was a lively, squalling little thing, all bloody red (though it may have been actual blood) and scrunched up features. He was screaming against the injustice of the world and the Joker felt his non-existent heart swell.

His little Jason, his little Jay-Jay.  
J. Junior now even, even if nobody else would ever know.  
His little jaybird, his little boy blue.

Didn’t even know what the world had already done to him and yet he already knew to rail against it.

His fingers itched to hold him, to cuddle him, to crush him close and never let go – but right now the Joker was just as newly born and barely knew himself and he couldn’t afford to break the only stable thing (of two) in his mind.

But fortunately Sheila had her own plans, now that her desperation grew and grew.

Too many dead bodies, too many dead teenage girls and babies not even born…

Even here in Gotham, people had started to ask questions, and with her illegal income rapidly drying up like her legal one had already done long before, her options to get away were dwindling by the minute.

She made a call and left the room, leaving the corpse of what’s-her-name behind. The Joker spared it one last glance, then followed her, creeping to the next window like a ghost.

Inside Sheila was wandering through the room, rocking his little baby boy with an impatient look on her face. As Joker continued to watch, he wanted to cut her deepening frown apart with a blade. Didn’t she know you were only supposed to smile around babies? You cooed at them and played with them and counted their little fingers and little toes ~~and if you didn’t like the number, well, that was easily solvable now, wasn’t it?~~

Finally a knock sounded and a man entered, his eyes immediately zeroing in on his little Jay. Sheila relaxed and handed his boy over, accepting a thick wad of cash in exchange.

She had promised her own baby to this man, the Joker would later learn. Her baby and his but she lost it just a few months in and somehow never got around to telling him. (It probably was for the best, if you asked him. Some people should just never reproduce.) Little Jason, with a dead, nameless mother and no father in sight, was a godsend in her eyes.

The man, Willis Todd, had a sweet, childless wife at home, who squealed happily once she was handed her new babe. She smiled and cooed and coddled and sang little songs and _this_ was how you treated a baby.

The Joker approved and decided to let them be. Little Jay-Jay was in good hands (for now) and he himself had to heal. He would visit his little boy later once he had reinvented himself and decided who he would be.

And if he later hunted Dr. Haywood down to start his lifelong torment of her for killing somebody ~~who might have once been~~ dear to him, well, you have to admit that was only fair.

+++

The Joker kept an eye on Jason afterwards.

Not as often as he wanted, true, but at least once every few weeks (if he wasn’t in Arkham), he crept into his room and watched him sleep. He marveled at his little face and his little nose and his little everything and wondered what it would take to make him smile. ~~Besides the obvious, that is.~~

He looked for his own features in his child sometimes, just out of curiosity, but if there was any resemblance at all, he didn’t find it. ~~Maybe there was something deeper, hidden beneath flesh and bones, but searching there was just so messy and would probably take more than just an hour or two.~~

He sung him lullabies when his little bird was fussy and murmured reassurances in his tiny ear, and more than once he was _this_ close to just taking Jason with him anyway, if he hadn’t remembered just in time how fragile children were. ~~He’d checked.~~

So the Joker pouted and sighed and swallowed his longing and whenever the pain of the separation became too much he did his best to share it around. Misery ~~deserves~~ loves company after all.

At least the Bat was there to keep him busy.

And oh, they had glorious times together.  
Whenever the Joker felt particularly down, he put on his best suit, put an acid-spitting flower in his buttonhole and proceeded to paint the town red. Elaborate schemes and death traps, silly little pranks and insane experiments, everything was possible in those times and he _knew_ the Bat appreciated it.

Life was so boring sometimes, after all, and all these sickos and freaks sprouting left and right only served to make it so much dourer.

The Joker made sure to keep _those_ out of Crime Alley.  
An easy feat given that most of them were only out for money anyway and those who weren’t still usually set their sights on the members of a more popular crowd. (Something that personally affronted Joker. He, at least, was an equal-opportunity psycho. In fact he made sure that whenever somebody offed another rich guy, he himself killed ten of Gotham’s poorest. Just so that they didn’t end up feeling neglected.) The only criminals to worry about down here were the various gangs and mobs and those had always been woefully predictable. The Joker had thought more than once about simply… thinning the herd and then start it all anew, turn them into something extraordinary…

But predictable was _good_ for his little Jay, a safe environment to learn how cruel and hard life could really be, without having to face the Big Leagues right away.

And learn he did, didn’t he?

Willis Todd managed to play “father” for maybe two or three years, then he succumbed like so many of his peers to alcohol and crime. It was as if he _relished_ in being ordinary, in being one of the faceless, mindless minions that served Gotham’s real criminals.

The Joker was tempted to recruit him for maybe a hot second – and if only to have an excuse to be closer to his little boy – but Willis was just so dull, so unimaginative ~~and if Joker got his claws in Jason he knew he would never be able to let go~~.

He made sure Willis got picked up by Two-Face instead, one bore deserving the other, and then sat back to see if the man would at least have the decency to somehow off himself. (To his great consternation he was in for a surprisingly long wait.)

+++

No matter what everybody else said, it was _Batman_ who changed the rules of their game.

The Joker had been happy with their back and forth (sometimes Batman would lose and sometimes the Joker would win), but no, that just wasn’t enough for the Bat anymore.

He brought an innocent in.

Oh no, not one of these homegrown “innocents”, not one of the numerous supernumeraries Gotham gifted the Joker with to use in his daily games. No, it was an itty, bitty thing stolen quietly from a passing circus. ~~AND HE LOOKED JUST LIKE HIS LITTLE JAY!~~

It was quite simply cheating.

It was simply not done.

~~AND HONESTLY HOW DARE HE MOCK HIM THIS WAY? ALL THESE YEARS THE JOKER HAD DONE HIS BEST TO KEEP HIS LITTLE JUNIOR SAFE AND AWAY AND NOW BATMAN BROUGHT THIS LITTLE CUCKOO INTO THEIR PLAY AND CALLED HIM HIS SON?~~

~~Oh, snips and snails and puppydog tails – oh, he would _show_ Batman what little boys were _really_ made of...~~

It hurt to see the little impostor laugh and cheer, tumbling through the night and having the time of his life. And all the while his own little bird was just one corner away and yet the Joker couldn’t even touch him.

Oh, he thought about it, more than once, about having his own little sidekick by his side. He would dress Jay-Jay up all in violet and green and show him all the ways to _really_ have fun. (Or maybe red and black would be better, even if matching outfits were currently in?)

But whenever the urge to steal his child away became too strong, he kidnapped a kid ~~or a school bus or a kindergarten~~ or three and reminded himself just why this was a bad idea. ~~So breakable, so fragile… Oh, he would make _sure_ that Batman would learn.~~

(He wondered if Jason would like a puppy.)

+++

Time flies when you’re having fun, and yet whenever the Joker looked at his little boy, it eventually became clear to him just how long it had actually been since that fateful night that had changed his life forever.

His little darling was growing like a weed (well, a sickly one at least), all arms and legs and thin, thin, thin… Maybe Joker should have disapproved of the obvious neglect and malnourishment, but it made his little Jay look so much more like him.

His little bird, all fragile bones and twitchy nerves and a survival instinct to rival his own. ~~It made the Joker just want to squeeze him until something cracked.~~

With Jaylad’s “father” finally away for good and his “mother” off in la-la-land, his little boy was getting the best education on the hardships of life money could buy. It was making him tough and it was making him strong and it was teaching him the most important lesson any parent could ever teach their child ~~right?~~ : How to survive.

~~Right?~~

But… Jaybaby had stopped smiling by now.

 _Catherine_ , now, _she_ was good at it: Always smiling dazedly while staring at things only she could see. (Joker whole-heartedly approved and slipped her a few more pills whenever she ran low so that she could keep setting a good example for his boy.)

But Jay-Jay only got grimmer and grimmer and really, at this point, Joker was half-afraid his very own flesh and blood was turning into a bore.

He tried to make the kid laugh, he really did, (The smiling fishes were a particular masterpiece if he may say so himself.) but Jason barely paid it any attention. Only food here and money there and no appreciation for the really important things in life, really.

Just where had the Joker gone wrong?

He took some time off from parenting and concentrated completely on Batman for a bit. Sometimes the best ideas came to you when you were busy with other things, after all.

Actually, he was almost tempted to ask the big bad Bat for advice, but Batsy’s little ~~interloper~~ hanger-on had recently turned into a full-blown teenager and the Bats’ dynamic had turned absolutely horrible as a result. The hissing and spitting between the two of them reminded him more of tomcats then bats at this point and, after a few encounters in which they were more busy tearing each other to shreds than playing his games, he decided to put them all out of their collective misery…

(Pop! went the birdy.)

Unfortunately that didn’t solve his own problems…

When he looked in again on Jay, Catherine had shuffled off this mortal coil without bothering to give Joker any notice (Rude!) and his son had vanished into the underbelly of lower Gotham.

The Joker allowed himself a minute or two to have a tantrum (Didn’t this damn woman have any idea how hard it was to find good babysitters these days?) then he switched to full-out panic instead: His SON was GONE! He had LOST his ONLY KID! He was a FAILURE as a father!

Little Jay-Jay could be anywhere at this point. ~~He better be still alive or Gotham would BURN! BURN, BURN, BURN, right down to the GROUND!~~

Sure, the Joker had made sure that Crime Alley was comparatively safe… but still, his little Jaybird was still so small and so precious and it wasn’t as if Joker could ask around for him or put his picture on some milk cartons.

Everybody in Gotham would get curious about just why the Joker was looking for him and that just spelled disaster as long as Jay wasn’t yet old and strong enough to fight back against them.

Maybe… maybe the Joker had messed up somehow, somewhere.

Yes, he had tried to make the kid tough in case of this very situation, but even he hadn’t planned for it happening this soon. Maybe he should have made more of an effort to make sure that his little baby boy had more time to be an actual kid instead of throwing him into the deep water right away.

Jason had stopped _smiling_ , for Bats’s sake.

His little Joker Junior and all he could do was frown.

Damn it all to hell, he had even thought his little bird defective, of all things (as if his perfect little babybird could ever be), when it was clearly the _parent’s_ fault when their offspring weren’t happy.

Well, once he had Jason safely back in his grasp he would do something about that.

+++

It was the Bat of all people who found his son for him.

The Joker watched from afar, after being on Junior’s trail for _months_ , as little Jason first proceeded to almost rob the Batman blind – and then slugged him a good one.

He felt a proud cackle crawl up his throat and had to swallow it forcefully down. (Wouldn’t do to give his hiding place away after all.) But really, his kid was just a chip off the old block: Fierce and fearless and unapologetic about it all and shaking ol’ Bats' whole worldview apart just by being himself. If he wouldn’t already love the little tyke enough to almost explode ~~something at least~~ this would have been the moment he would have fallen in love with his son all over again.

And the look on Batsy’s face…

~~Not quite what you expected when you went to cry over your dead parents after all…~~

+++

At first, the Joker wasn’t quite sure what he thought about Batman’s decision to take in his son, but after the scare that had been “Jaybird: Home Alone in Crime Alley” he was ready to admit that maybe Junior could do with a bit of a break for once.

(Besides, his little bird stood out like a sore thumb in Bristol, so he would be easy to find should he ever get lost again.)

And lo and behold, his little boy just _flourished_ in the Batmask’s pouncy little castle!

He looked a lot better with more meat on his bones ~~even if the Joker had to admit that he would miss the times when his darling boy had been thin as a rail – it had made him look more like daddy~~ and he was absolutely _delighted_ with the chance to go to school. Really, if the Joker would have known that all it took to make his kid happy was to sit him down in front of a government employed drone and a blackboard he would have hijacked that schoolbus last month instead of setting it aflame.

But whatever, Jason was _smiling_ again, beaming really, and that was all that mattered.

So Joker cut back on all grand gestures of apology for a while (he did kind of lose his little bird after all) and made do with the little things instead: Slipping him sweets and books and cigarettes whenever he visited to watch his son sleep. He spread them around the room where they wouldn’t be found right away and then he settled on the foot of his boy’s bed and just… watched him breathe for a bit.

That’s what parents did after all, right? Guarding their young and making sure that nothing bad happened to them. ~~And that should be very easy given that the Joker himself was the worst thing around.~~

Not that Jaybird’s new life was all sunshines and roses he found out. More than once the Joker spied on him crying tears of anger and frustration into his pillows. Between high society running their mouths (and Joker made sure to get his own revenge for that) and the ever increasing demands of the Bat, his little darling was more than a bit overwhelmed.

(And wasn’t that just a hoot? Joker Junior training to become Robin… though Joker was quite miffed that they kept _that_ name when calling Jason Bluejay should have been so obvious. His son deserved better than hand-me-downs…)

But whenever Jay-Jay had cried himself to sleep once again, the Joker was there to wipe the tear tracks away and croon soft encouragements into his ear: It would all be worth it, in the end. Robin was magic after all ~~at least if the common rabble was to be believed~~ and soon enough he and his daddy would have so much time to play. They would explore Gotham together and wow the masses and every night they would have so much fun…

It would be wonderful and they would be finally together. ~~~~

+++

The following years were the best of Joker’s life with every night bringing another festival.

Where the other ~~cuckoo~~ Robin had been an overexcited annoyance, always flipping and tumbling and running his mouth (really now, that’s what Harley was for), _Jason_ had the true Gotham charm: A wildness and grit his ~~prototype~~ predecessor had been sorely lacking and an _understanding_ of the ugly sides of human nature even Batman could only barely call his own.

The Joker was so proud.

They did good, he and the Batman, acing this co-parenting thing like two pros.

The Joker provided the fun times, the excitement and the laughter and gently teaching his son the hard lessons of life now and then.

And the Batman was the stern parent in turn, scolding and fussing and making sure that their kid eventually got back into fighting form after the Joker was done teaching him.

And Jason? Jason grew and prospered and called all of Gotham his own, playing and exploring while his two benevolent fathers watched over him. He laughed and howled into the night, searching for dangers and adventures wherever he could find them. He lived for the thrill and the adrenaline and the knowledge that nobody could ever truly hurt ~~or cage~~ him again.

Until it suddenly all ended.

+++

It was a creeping thing, at first.

A harsh word here, a furious glare there. Nothing really out of the ordinary for the Bat.

But instead of doing what his daddy did and just ignoring the grumpy old man and continuing to have fun, Jay-Jay reflected Batman’s bad mood right back at him and soon enough the big old meany was refusing to let Jason come out to play.

And it didn’t end there.

Learning was still awesome and his little bookbird still loved the manor’s giant library, but school had seemingly lost a bit of its luster now that even years later Jason hadn’t managed to find a single real friend. The ~~cuckoo~~ “big brother” wasn’t any help in this regard either, either not visiting at all or just showing up for a day or two to give Joker’s little boy just a taste of something wonderful only to take it away again. (And here they said that the Joker was cruel…)

No pets, no friends, not even a permanent place on Nightthing’s little team…

Little Jason grew lonely and frustrated and the Batman’s steadily souring mood, utter lack of understanding, and sudden urge to “curb Robin’s more violent instincts” didn’t help at all. (And really, who was that man to forbid the kid from expressing himself? Airing your emotions in a productive manner was _healthy_ and absolutely _necessary_ if one ever wanted to achieve inner peace. Just look at the Joker and how great he had turned out. Honestly, sometimes he feared for the sanity of that man…)

It even began to taint Jaybird’s relationship with the Batmask, leading to public arguments that had the sharks of high society twittering and hissing gleefully at each other behind not-so-closed doors. ~~And, oh, he got them back for that…~~

All in all, the pressure on poor Jason just seemed to mount and mount and the Joker waited breathlessly for the day it would all explode – but it _didn’t!_

The foolish boy swallowed it down instead, bottling it up in best Bat fashion. Just like the big bad Dark Knight himself…

And the Joker was _furious_ about it.

He watched them argue, he watched them shout and scream and snarl, he saw the sparks of violence in Jason’s eyes and _how he didn’t act on it!_

Instead, little Jaybird’s smiles turned first brittle and then into sneers and his laughter into scowls and silence and all that fun and all that _magic_ simply disappeared!

The Batman had betrayed ~~him~~ them.

Instead of raising their son in perfect harmony, the Bat had turned Jay Junior against him.  
Even worse, the Bat was turning Jay-Jay into a Mini-Me.

~~Had the asshole never learned to share?~~

The Joker could never allow that.

~~The Joker wasn’t sure he could ever forgive that.~~

The Joker had to save Jason from this fate before it was too late!

+++

Jay-Jay came to him in the end.

Like any good kid he ran straight back to daddy when he got hurt, pleading with him make it all go away…

Sure, Junior actually thought he was looking for his “mother” ~~and wasn’t that a blast~~ but internally, unconsciously, Jason knew _exactly_ who he was really searching for.

His little babybird didn’t want to be sad and lonely anymore, he didn’t want to turn into a ~~damn~~ Bat, and the Joker was only too happy to oblige.

He had brought Jason into this world and then failed to properly look out for him and now it was his duty to take him out of it again.

Still, maybe he _did_ go a bit overboard, but in his defense, the Joker had been hurt by the last few months, too. He had done _everything_ to make sure that Jason stayed alive and happy and had expected nothing but a bit of respect in return. Maybe a smile here or there…

But instead he got nothing but lip and a kid threatening more and more to go over to the dark and boring side every day and even if Jaybird had gotten his act together in the last second and come crawling back to him, he still deserved some punishment and if only to show that the Joker could have been a stern father, too.

~~Besides, the Joker wanted to make sure that in the end the Batman would hurt just as much as he did and that he would never ever be able to forget just what he had driven the Joker to do…~~

~~+++~~

In the end, the deed was done…

(And all the Knight’s horses and all the Knight’s men couldn’t put his babybird back together again…)

+++

The Joker visited Jason’s grave, sometimes, because how could he not?

For fifteen years he had watched his little boy sleep, so why should he stop now just because there were six feet of dirt between them?

He brought him cigarettes and weeds and sometimes a chili dog or two. All those little things Jay would have enjoyed if the Bat hadn’t gotten to him and broken his spirit in two. ~~If Joker hadn’t handed his poor son over on a silver platter…~~

He crooned lullabies and stories into the soil and whispered to his child that he now was finally safe from _him_ and he never ever told Jason about the ~~grave robber~~ _replacement_ now wearing his cape.

(Because what good would it do? Jason already knew that Joker had been the only one that had still cared for him in the end, the Batman had made that more than clear… And the little cardboard cutout trailing along in the shadow of the Bat was such a bore that the Joker half-suspected that Batsy had finally given in and cloned himself. Really, Jason didn’t need to know how gloomier the world had gotten without him.)

And then, from one night to the next, the Joker simply stopped.

~~Never before had his little Jaybird felt so far away…~~

+++

When the Joker first heard of the new Red Hood he just thought it to be another boring case of identity theft. Those had gotten more and more common in Gotham lately, with everybody always stealing each other gimmicks and suits, swapping places and names around until even the most seasoned Gothamite was getting confused.

Sure, the new guy had _some_ style, even if it didn’t quite mesh with the Joker’s personal tastes, but then not everybody could be as fashionable as him. (And it certainly beat the infamous Discowing…)

But he didn’t get really curious about the new face on the block until he got a quick overview of his actions from a thoroughly ~~spooked~~ fed-up Black Mask.

Heads in a duffle bag? Really?

Well maybe the Joker could forgive an impudent copycat just this once, at least if this guy continued to deliver such delicious examples of violence and depravity. Maybe he would even take him under his wing for a bit and give him a few pointers on how to really leave a mark on the masses.

After all how did the saying go? About imitation being the sincerest form of flattery?

~~And yes, maybe he was also wistfully thinking of his little Jay. Little Joker Junior who would have been almost an adult by now and finally ready to face the world at daddy’s side. Oh, he missed him so…~~

But he couldn’t properly groom his newest sidekick as long as Black Mask was gunning for him, so the Joker decided to turn getting rid of the skull-faced bore into one giant flaming invitation. (It must be hard to see out of that helmet after all. Yeah, better add a bit more gasoline…)

 _Naturally_ , the Bat had to intervene, always sticking its pointy black ears in things that didn’t actually concern him. He was ~~back?~~ on sidekick number three after all ~~or did this Robin count as number five? It just got so confusing after a while~~ and the least he could do, after stealing little Jason away, was to leave Joker this distraction to comfort him a bit.

At least the Red Hood was just as miffed at the sudden interruption (he and the Joker would get along swimmingly, he could already tell) and relocated them both somewhere quieter to have a real heart-to- ~~nonexisting~~ -heart.

The new guy kept gabbing (not that Joker paid attention, but sidekicks always felt better when they thought they had an actual say in any decisions and this one was brand spanking new and still needed time to learn who really held the power here…) and then he took off his helmet and –

AND HOLY BAT, THAT WAS HIS JAY!!!

HIS LITTLE JASON, ALL GROWN UP!

And maybe the Joker shouldn’t call him “little” anymore. His wonderful darling had clearly inherited his daddy’s height and that fact alone almost moved him to tears. ~~Oh, no, wait. That had been a kick…~~

The Joker had tried for years to see himself in his little boy and now here he was, alive and well and apparently just as bad at staying dead as his old man. Jason was furious and violent and full of such delicious rage, screaming and shouting and beating the living daylights out of his dad.

And really, that was good, that was fine, Jaybird bottling up his emotions was what had led to this little get-together in the first place… So if his darling boy needed to break a few bones to let go of his aggression, who was Joker to mind?

And Jay-Jay clearly had been busy these last few years, because his way with the crowbar was superb and spoke of a great deal of practice. He looked healthy and well-fed, maybe a bit tired around the eyes (but that could be just the light), and if Arkham’s rumor mill was to be believed he had also come back to Gotham expertly trained.

A new life, new skills and a soul full of rage and the first person he had focused all that on had been his dad…

That’s what true love felt like.

+++

The Joker was giddy when the Bat finally crashed the party, excited to show off their prodigal son.

Sure, he was still mad at Batman for taking Jason’s happiness away, but at least their boy was back now and ready to take ~~them both on~~ on the world.

And yes, maybe the Joker had made some mistakes, too. He should have picked up the slack when he noticed that the Batman failed at parenting. Maybe kidnapped his kid and gone on a vacation for a month or ~~fifteen~~ two. Show him the world ~~or Arkham~~ , have some fun, have some _bonding_ experiences between the two of them. ~~And really leave his mark on the boy...~~

He should have made sure that Jason understood that no matter what the stupid Bat thought, he would always be Joker’s perfect little boy.

But the Joker vowed that he would do better from now on and that Jason would never feel left out or alone again. ~~He was daddy’s little darling after all.~~

(And if he didn’t smile as much as the Joker would like him to, well, part of being a good parent was to understand that your kid was never going to be a carbon copy of yourself and to love them anyway. To forgive their faults, encourage their strengths and to compromise to find common ground.)

Oh, they would have fun from now on, he, his son and the Bat.

A perfect little family, a terrible trio, and all of Gotham would be their playground forever…

+++

(And if anybody else thought that they could hurt his little boy, well, they would have to answer to HIM!)

**Author's Note:**

> So~ , just another thing to add to the "Shit that happened to Jason Todd"-list.  
> Hopefully nobody will ever tell him...
> 
> Writing Joker is disturbing... and I firmly believe that he always knows far more than he lets on. (Partial omniscience maybe?)


End file.
